Comic actress Melissa McCarthy is on top of the world these days, so she can finally speak freely in some interviews. Like taking down movie critic Rex Reed for making fun of her weight in one of his reviews back in February.

The 42-year-old was very tactful in aNew York Times feature in which Reed's review of Identity Thief for theNew York Observer came up. Reed called her "tractor-sized, " a "hippo" and “a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success.” McCarthy didn't respond when the review came out then, but told the Times her thought at the time was "Really? Why would someone okay that?"

She didn't mention Reed's name, but that's our job; She did trash him in the best way possible, by saying he must be pretty unhappy to make fun of an actress' weight.

“I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate," she said. "I just thought, that’s someone who’s in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot. I laugh my head off every day with my husband and my kids who are mooning me and singing me songs.” Besides, it was stereotypical name-calling by, you know, Rex Reed.

She added such criticism in her 20s would have "crushed" her, and was disturbing as the mother of two daughters locked in “a strange epidemic of body image and body dysmorphia." Plus, The Juice* will note, when's the last time you ever saw any critic give a fat male comedian a hard time?

About the blog

Here's the latest celebrity gossip and news about actors on drugs, pop stars having babies, Hollywood stars getting married and celebrity deaths. Compiled by Lydia Harvey and the folks at tbt*, Tampa Bay's free daily newspaper, it pokes fun at celebrity gossip and those who worship it. And don't forget the amazing YouTube clips that find their way into the Juice.